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Building Envelopes
Stronger efficiency is the first and best policy to bring down energy bills
Variations in energy efficiency exist both within and among countries. For example, in some European countries with similar climates it can take twice as much energy to heat the same floor area or within one country the energy consumed between the most efficient and least efficient homes for a given size can vary by a factor of up to three.
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Data Centres and Data Transmission Networks
CO2 emissions
Data centres and data transmission networks are responsible for 1% of energy-related GHG emissions
Energy
Strong efficiency improvements have helped to limit growth in energy demand from data centres globally
Activity
Emerging services and technologies such as streaming, cloud gaming, blockchain, artificial intelligence, machine learning and virtual reality are poised to boost demand for data services
Renewable energy
Policy
Private sector initiatives
Acknowledgements
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Appliances and Equipment
Standards and labelling can lift the average rate of energy efficiency improvement by two to three times
Based on global evidence from countries with Energy efficiency standards and labelling (EES&L) programmes, the average energy efficiency of new major appliances in these countries can increase two to three times the underlying rate of technology improvement. This can result in average energy reductions of 10-30% over 15 to 20 years in the stock of most regulated products across all countries.
In leading countries with strong regulations and long-running programmes which are regularly updated, the contribution could be much higher…
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Electrolysers
Country and regional highlights
Progress is spread across different continents, from China, which leads on installed capacity, to the European Union, which have adopted important policies, and other regions like India and the Middle East moving forward with a small number of large-scale projects
Technology deployment
Global installed electrolyser capacity reached 1.4 GW at the end of 2023, almost double the one at the end of 2022
Technology manufacturing
Innovation
Policy
Investment
Acknowledgements
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Behavioural Changes
Country and regional highlights
Governments have supported or mandated behavioural changes in buildings and on roads
CO2 emissions
Behavioural changes can quickly reduce CO2 emissions
Activity
Growth in activity is inevitable as economies develop and populations increase, but behavioural changes can help to offset these increases
Policy
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting energy crisis have increased the salience of behavioural changes
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Digitalisation
Country and regional highlights
Countries are increasingly preparing their infrastructure for digitalisation
Energy
Digital technologies can help increase energy efficiency and reduce emissions across the energy system
CO2 emissions
Digital technologies are directly responsible for around 2% of energy-related GHG emissions today
Technology deployment
Deployment of smart meters and connected devices continues to grow
Investment
Investment in digital grid technologies accelerated in 2022
Policy
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Electric Vehicles
Global electric car sales continue to break records as affordability improves
Despite recent economic headwinds that have put pressure on the auto sector, global sales of electric cars have continued to break records as electric models become increasingly affordable. Electric car sales exceeded 17 million globally in 2024, reaching a sales share of more than 20%. Just the additional 3.5 million electric cars sold in 2024 compared with the previous year is more than the total number of electric cars sold worldwide in 2020.
In 2025, sales of electric cars are expected to surpass 20 million, accounting for over…
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Solar PV
Solar PV continues to dominate global renewables growth, though at a slower rate
Recent policy changes are expected to affect the pace at which solar PV capacity is added annually through the end of this decade. Even so, low costs, faster permitting and broad social acceptance are set to continue to drive the accelerating adoption of solar PV. As a result, capacity is set to more than double between 2025 and 2030 compared with the 2019 to 2024 period.
A growing share of variable renewable sources such as solar also comes with challenges. Curtailment levels and instances of negative electricity…
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Gas Market Lessons from the 2022-2023 Energy Crisis Conclusion and lessons learned
Market environment is structurally and geopolitically more fragile One of the primary and most fundamental consequences of the energy crisis is the shift into a structurally more fragile natural gas market environment, compounded by geopolitical uncertainty. The drastic reduction in Russian pipeline flows to Europe also represented a loss of traded gas volumes in the global market. Concurrently, this drove an equally significant reduction in the availability of swing production capacity that had previously provided a degree of price-responsive supply modulation to both the European and global markets. In turn, this led to an increased reliance on LNG trade…
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Multiple Benefits of Energy Efficiency for Business Turning the opportunity into reality
Across sectors, the evidence consistently shows that the value of energy efficiency extends far beyond energy savings, often matching or even exceeding them.A key challenge is that much of this value is not systematically captured in investment decisions. Business cases are often built on energy savings alone, overlooking gains in productivity, resource efficiency, product quality, brand reputation and workforce health. Reflecting these wider benefits can significantly strengthen investment cases and improve how efficiency projects compete for capital.This report draws on available evidence to highlight these broader benefits and why they matter in practice. The steps below show how…
